Arthur Bliss - Checkmate (1937) - Music Sales Classical Arthur Bliss Checkmate (1937) BRIEF PROGRAMME NOTE The ballet, on the theme of a warlike game of chess, never fails to capture the imagination with its struggle between the opposing forces of Love and Death. It was originally choreographed by Ninette de Valois. PROGRAMME NOTE Checkmate was written at the request of the Sadler's Wells Ballet for their visit to Paris in 1937. Bliss chose the game of Chess as the subject for his ballet and wrote his own scenario. It was choreographed by Dame Ninette de Valois who knew nothing about chess so Bliss had to explain the rules and show the characteristic moves of the pieces. In the original castlist it is interesting to note such names as Frederick Ashton, Robert Helpmann and Margot Fonteyn. The conductor was Constant Lambert. SYNOPSIS 1. Prologue - The Players. The mood of the ballet is set by the sombre opening prelude. As the curtain rises we see two players sitting motionless on a raised dais with a chessboard between them. The Golden Player removes his visor disclosing the features of Love.

The Black Player slowly strips his gauntlet disclosing the skeleton arm of Death. They turn the board three times to see who makes the first move; Love wins and raises a red pawn to his heart. The lights dim and the curtains slowly close. 2. Dance of the Red Pawns. The curtain rises again and the stage is now set up as a giant chessboard. The Red Pawns enter in this predominantly buoyant and cheerful movement which contrasts strongly with the ominous threats of the prologue. 3. Dance of the Four Knights. The two Red Knights enter to a wide-leaping angular theme with prominent syncopated rhythms followed by the two Black Knights where a rushing semiquaver figure with prominent triplets are the main feature. The Red Knights challenge the Black Knights to a display of daring and the tension is brilliantly built up until a boldly defiant climax is reached and the Black Queen enters. 4. Entry of the Black Queen. Bliss shows a wide range of expression throughout the ballet, and contrasting with the hectic climax of the Knights' dance is the music of seductive beauty for the Black Queen played by the clarinet.

The first Red Knight is hypnotised by her beauty and as she leaves the stage with her escort, she throws him a black rose. 5. The Red Knight's Mazurka. This is the only section of the ballet which bears the name of a formal dance as the Red Knight dances an exuberant solo. After a dramatic figure is played on the timpani three Red pawns enter carrying the banners of the Red Knights and then take up ceremonial positions to receive the two Red Bishops. 6. Ceremony of the Red Bishops. This follows without a break as a church bell anticipates the stately entry of the Bishops. It is a lyrical interlude well placed before the tension of the ballet begins to rise. 7. Entry of the Red Castles. The two Red Castles burst upon the stage with long strides. They represent the machinery of war and convey the impression that Force must be the final arbiter. During the final bars the Red Knights, Bishops and Pawns prepare for the arrival of the Red King and Queen whose approach is signalled by a fanfare figure on the brass. 8. Entry of the Red King and Queen.

Without a break in the music the weak and feeble King enters accompanied by the Queen. They are the inadequate centrepieces of the Red line-up and make their way slowly to the throne at the back of the stage to music of wistful character and rhythmic instability. All the pieces have now assembled and the game may begin. 9. The Attack. begins in an exultant mood with brass fanfares and the sound of castanets giving an indication of the bustle at this early stage of the contest. The stage is alive with the intricate manoeuvres of the chess battle until a forceful climax is reached (brass figure over tremulo strings) as the Black Queen puts the Red King into Check. Helplessly, the King looks for assistance and summons up the Red Bishops (return of their stately theme) but are waved angrily aside by the Black Queen. The Red Queen implores the Black Queen to spare the King (plaintive oboe solo), but the Black Queen summons her Knights who carry the Red Queen away (return of the Knights' theme).

The only piece who can now save the King is the Red Knight who (after a long pause held by timpani, cellos and basses) enters without a break on 10. The Duel. His heroic entrance is presented by the full orchestra. Red Knight and Black Queen circle round each other fighting, though the Knight is torn between his love for the Queen and a desire to destroy her. After a fierce duel the Knight's greater strength and mobility enables him to overcome her, she lies at his feet and at his mercy. But therein lies her strength and certainty of survival. She is apparently his helpless victim (return of the Black Queen's clarinet theme) and as the Knight hesitates to kill her, the sword slowly drops from his hands. He turns his back to the Queen and kneels before the Red King confessing that he could not kill her. As he kneels, the music becomes more violent. The Queen rises, follows him stealthily and plunges her knife into his back. The two players of the Prologue, Love and Death reappear as all the pieces except the Black Queen gather round the dead Knight and raise him on to their shoulders, accompanied only by the Cor Anglais cadenza of mourning.

Death then leads the funeral procession with Love bringing up the rear. The Red King and Black Queen are now left alone. 11. The Black Queen Dances. The Queen dances a sinister tango-like movement while the Red King, in terror for his life, looks on with fascination. The Queen despises the old King's helplessness and leaves the stage with a gesture of savage triumph. 12. Finale - Checkmate. The Red King is now alone. A scurrying cello and bass pizzicato supporting a static woodwind line portrays the King's nervousness and terror of what is to come. He moves forward slowly to escape but suddenly a few black pieces enter and force him back. He tries another way but more black pieces appear. He prays and makes one last piteous attempt to gain safety but the stage is now flooded with black pieces and the final, unstoppable onslaught begins. This exciting climax to the ballet is full of bite and driving energy as the Red King now stands on the steps of his throne surrounded by his enemies, but as the moment of death approaches he has a vision of himself as a young and strong ruler (heroic brass fanfares and pounding drums).

However the Black Queen enters and strikes the King with a spear. She lifts the crown from his head as the King falls dead into the circle of enemy lances and swords - CHECKMATE. © Michael Bell Sarasota Opera House, Florida, US Sarasota Ballet 29,30 April - Sarasota Opera House, Florida, US 10 AUG 2012 Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Aldeburgh, Suffolk National Youth Brass Band Oval Room, Pittville Pump Rooms, Cheltenham Sadler's Wells 18,19 October - Sunderland Empire Theatre 25,26 October - Sadler's Wells Theatre 1,2 November - Plymouth Theatre Royal 8,9 November - Edinburgh Festival Theatre Reviews Checkmate, in a spanking revival, was de Valois' prophetic statement in 1937 about the coming war. It reveals, yet again, what a magnificent maker of dances she was, and how imaginative in structure and in choice of design (by the influential poster artist McKnight Kauffer), and music (by Arthur Bliss: we do not commission ballet scores from composers of such stature today).

Clement Crisp, The Financial Times,10/27/2005 Anyone interested in the early years of British ballet will want to see Birmingham Royal Ballet’s “English” mixed bill. Three enduring ballets by three important choreographers showcase the vitality and imagination of an era that defined our national ballet. For the heritage hungry this touring triple bill is tailor made. The ballet that stands strongest is also the oldest, Ninette de Valois’ Checkmate (1937), partly because it still bears the ravishing look of its original designer (the London Transport artist E. McKnight Kauffer) and partly because of Arthur Bliss’s robustly dramatic and boldly coloured score. De Valois’ grand and deadly chess game — a battle between love and death — has some unforgettable images and plenty of theatrical vigour that doesn’t seem to age.

Debra Craine, The Times,10/27/2005 Masterpieces of the British Ballet: Checkmate and The Rake's Progress, on Video Artists International Masterpieces of the British Ballet: Checkmate & The Rake's Progress VAI 4379, $34.95 Two masterpieces of twentieth-century British ballet danced by the Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet. Created for the Vic-Wells Ballet in the 1930s by founder-choreographer Ninette de Valois, Checkmate and The Rake’s Progress remain cornerstones of the British ballet repertoire. The scores, by Sir Arthur Bliss and Gavin Gordon, respectively, are here performed by the Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet Orchestra under the direction of Barry Wordsworth. Filmed in 1982 at Sadler’s Wells Theater, London. Color, 87 min., 1982, Color.

CHECKMATE A Ballet in One Act with Prologue Music: Sir Arthur Bliss Choreography: Dame Ninette de Valois Checkmate, one of the pillars of contemporary British ballet, was created in 1937 by choreographer Ninette de Valois (1898-2001) in response to an idea by composer Sir Arthur Bliss (1891-1975). It remained in the repertoire for more than four decades and is still regularly revived. The ballet portrays a game of love and death, played according to rules of chess. It is won by the Black Queen who first captures the Red Queen, then defeats the Red Knight, and finally delivers the Red King to her warriors. Cast: The Black Queen: Margaret Barbieri The Red Knight: David Ashmole The Red King: David Bintley The Red Queen: Sherilyn Kennedy Second Red Knight: Michael Corder First Black Knight: Roland Price Second Black Knight: Nicholas Millington THE RAKE’S PROGRESS A Ballet in Six Scenes Music and Scenario: Gavin Gordon Choreography: Dame Ninette de Valois The Rake’s Progress, which premiered in 1935, is one of the first classics of the native English school of ballet.

The work’s creator, Ninette de Valois, called the ballet her “Homage to Hogarth,” a reference to the brilliant caricaturist whose paintings inspired her choreography. The music is by Gavin Gordon (1901-1970), who also wrote the scenario based on Hogarth’s drawings. They portray the swift fall of a young man who squanders his newly inherited fortune in brothels and gambling dens and is ultimately cast into Bedlam, London’s notorious madhouse, where, wasted by disease and consumed by remorse, he ends his days.

Cast: The Betrayed Girl: Nicola Katrak The Dancing Master: Kim Reeder Man with a Rope: David Bintley The Rake’s Friend/A Card Player: Michael Corder Betrayed Girl’s Mother: Susan Crow The Dancer: Chenca Williams The Ballad Singer: Siobhan Stanley Music & Scenario by Gavin Gordon Dancers of the Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet Orchestra / Barry Wordsworth, conductor Filmed in 1982 at Sadler’s Wells Theater, London Music and Chess - Chess.com Chess.com Aug 7, 2007, 12:00 AM 12,607 Reads 11 Comments Fun & Trivia n 1607, the first ballet with a chess theme was Ballet des Eschecs, performed for Louis XIV of France. Francois-Andre Danican Philidor (1726-1795) was a famous music composer. He was exposed to chess by the musicians in the French king's court, who played chess during spells of inactivity. At the age of 11 he was composing music for Louis XV.

He made an early living by copying music and giving music lessons. In 765 he composed the opera Tom Jones. He wrote over 20 operas in his career. The opera house in Paris has a bust of Philidor. In 1810, Traugott Eberwein (1775-1831) composed the opera Das Schachturnier (the chess tournament). In the 1850s, Paul Morphy (1837-1884) was able to memorise any piece of music after hearing it a single time. In the 1860s, the chess player Armand Blackmar (1826-1888) was a music professor and music publisher. In the 1870s, chess problemist Sam Loyd (1841-1911) owned a chain of music stores. In the 1880s, Johannes Zukertort (1842-1888) was a music critic and pianist.

In 1910, Leevi Antii Madetoja (1887-1947) composed the suite Shakkipeli (Chess Game). It was composed for a play called Shakkipeli by Eino Leino (1878-1926). Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch (1862-1934) once wrote, "Chess, like love, like music, has the powers to make men happy." Eugene Znosko-Borovsky (1884-1954) was a music critic. In 1925, Petr Petrovich Saburov ( Sabouroff ) ( -1932) composed a Love Symphony for a big orchestra. One of the pieces was called Simultaneous Games of Chess. The composition was first played in the "Concert Classique" at Monte Carlo in May, 1924. Saburov was once the president of the Pan-Russian Chess Federation and als the Petrograd Chess Club. In 1927, Henri Rabaud (1873-1949) composed Le Jouer D'echecs (The Player of Chess).

The work is the music for the film with the same name, directed by Raymond Bernard. In the 1930s Mark Taimanov started taking piano lessons and even appeared in a film called Beethoven's Concert. He later became a concert pianist. He studied at the Leningrad Conservatory. He conducted a series of concerts throughout the USSR with his wife, Lyubov Bruk. He is included in the Philips collection of 100 greatest pianists of the 20th century. In June 1937, a 50-minute ballet called Checkmate was performed at the Paris World Exhibition. The ballet was composed by Sir Arthur Bliss (1891-1975) and choreographed by Ninette de Valois (who knew nothing about chess). The ballet was written at the request of the Sadler's Wells Ballet for their visit to Paris in 1937. In the 1940s, Harold Schonberg (1915-2003) was a music critic and had a passion for writing chess.

In 1945, Vittorio Rieti (1898-1994) composed Chess Serenade: suite for two pianos, four hands. In 1947, an operetta, The Sea Cadet, was performed in London which presented a game of living chess. In 1950 Aristocratic Records became Chess Records. This has nothing to do with the game of chess. Chess Records was founded by Leonard and Phil Chess of Chicago. It was the pre-eminent Blues label of the 1950s and 1960s. Performers included John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, and Ike Turner In the 1950s, Bohuslav Martinu (1890-1959) composed the ballet Echec au roi (Chess of the King). In the 1950s Vasily Smyslov (1921- ) was a fine baritone singer and auditioned for the Bolshoi theater. In 1953, the first ballet on ice with a chess scene, Sinbad the Sailor on Ice, was performed.

The skaters played out the Morphy - Duke of Brunswick game on ice. The work was composed by Reginald Charles Noel-Johnson. In 1957, Jean Absil (1893-1974) composed Eschecs, Suite for Piano, op. 96. In 1960, Wayne Shorter composed The Chess Players on the album The Big Beat by the band called Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. In 1965, the blind musician Ray Charles (1930-2004) learned chess to help him kick his drug habit and help his concentration. One of his chess partners was Willie Nelson. In 1965, Paul Reif composed Philidor's Defense: a musical chess game. In 1966, Grace Slick sung White Rabbit for the album Conspicuous Only In Its Absence by the band Great Society. In 1967 it was recorded for the album Surrealistic Pillow by the band Jefferson Airplane. The song has several references to chess. In 1968, John White composed Cello and Tuba Machine.

The notes played by the tuba were determined by the moves of a knight on a musical chessboard. In 1968 a ballet called Pawn to King 5 was performed in London. The music was provided by Pink Floyd. In 1971, the group Yes, composed Your Move and included it in their The Yes Album. The lyrics were written by Jon Anderson. In 1971, Marcia Cohen composed Chess Set; for Percussion and Electronic Tape. In 1971, Osvaldo Lacerda composed Cromos: para Piano. One of the pieces is entitled Jogando xadrez (Playing chess). In 1971, Ladislav Simon (1929- ) composed Sachova Dama (Chess Queen). It was a blues piece for a jazz orchestra. In 1972, Jan Kapr (1914-1988) composed Chess Sonata for Two Pianos. In 1973, a band called Flash wrote five songs with chess themes: None the Wiser (King), Farewall Number One (Pawn), Man of Honor (Knight), Dead Ahead (Queen), and Bishop.

The album was called Out of Our Hands. In 1973, Ned Rorem composed Day Music: for Violin and Piano. One of the pieces is called A Game of Chess Four Centuries Ago. In 1974 the band called Gryphon composed the albumRed Queen to Gryphon Three. The album consists of four instrumental pieces called Opening Move, Second Spasm, Lament, and Checkmate. In 1979, Sten Hanson composed The Chessmen of Mars for his John Carter Songbook. In 1985 Rodney Waschka II composed Euwe Suite, based on chess games played by Max Euwe. In 1986, the musical Chess, lyrics written by Tim Rice, was produced. It was the most expensive musical play ever put together, costing over $4 million. The music was composed by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus (both formerly of ABBA). The musical was inspired by the Fischer-Spassky World Championship match. In 1986, Adrian Cruft composed Chess Pieces (for Trumpet and Piano). In 1986, Michael Nyman composed The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.

This is an opera that has a neurologist playing one of his patients. In 1986, Juan Maria Solare composed Ajedrez I y II (Chess I and II). The piece is based on a poem by Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) title Ajedres. In 1987 Wolfgang von Stuermer and Dietrich Eichman composed Game and Earnest. It is a piece for two players performing at a chessboard. In 1988, the Broadway production of Chess opened, but it lost $6 million and closed after 68 performances. In 1990, a ballet called Ana, choreographed by Chopinet, was performed based on Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass. It included a chess game being played. In 1992, Juan Maria Solare composed Benoni for Flute, Clarinet and Violoncello. In 1993, Aake Parmerud composed Jeux Imaginaires. It is based upon a game between Karpov and Kasparov played in the 1992 World Chess Championship.

In 1994, Dougie MacLean composed the albumMarching Mystery. One of the songs is about the Isle of Lewis chessmen (the marching mystery). In 1996, a short opera, Sketches of Chess was written for two sopranos and a chessboard. It is based on a chess game between Kasparov and Ljubojevic played in Brussels in 1987. In 1997, the band called Isildurs Bane composed MIND Volume I. Throughout the song, the moves of a chess game are recited.

Musicians who played chess: Jean Absil (composer), Jon Anderson (Yes), Thomas Beecham (English conductor), Ludwig Beethoven, Art Blakey (jazz musician), Sir Arthur Bliss (Master of the Queen's Music), Alex Borodin (Russian composer), David Bowie, Adolf Brodsky (violinist and conductor), Clifford Brown (jazz musician), John Cage, Enrico Caruso, Pablo Casals (cellist), Ray Charles, Chopin, Bobby Darin, Neil Diamond, Antonin Dvorak, Mischa Ehlman (violinist), Ferenc Erkel, Dizzy Gillespie, Gerry Goffin (songwriter), Leo Kahn (violinist), Gene Krupa (drummer), John and Lennon, John Lill (pianist), Johnny Marks (wrote Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer), Felix Mendelssohn, Yehudi Menuhin, Modest Mussorgsky, Graham Nash (Crosby, Stills, and Nash), Willie Nelson, David Oistrakh (violinist), Yoko Ono, Philidor, Gregor Piatigorsky (cellist), Sergei Prokofiev (composer), Helen Reddy, Rugg

iero Ricci, Tim Rice, Sviatoslav Richter, N.

Rimsky-Korsakov, Monz Rosenthal (pianist), , Arthur Rubinstein (pianist), Robert Schumann, Dmitri Shostakovich (composer), Ringo Starr, Isaac Stern, Sting, Richard Strauss, Bjorn Ulvaeus (ABBA), Giuseppe Verdi (composer), Heitor Villa-Lobos, Paul Whiteman (jazz musician), Rudolf Wilmers (pianist), and Tadeusz Wronski (composer). Arthur Bliss - Checkmate: Concert Suite (1937) - Music Sales Classical Checkmate: Concert Suite (1937) Arthur Bliss Checkmate: Concert Suite (1937) Checkmate was written at the request of the Sadler's Wells Ballet for their visit to Paris in 1937. Bliss chose the game of Chess as the subject for his ballet and wrote his own scenario. It was choreographed by Dame Ninette de Valois who knew nothing about chess so Bliss had to explain the rules and show the characteristic moves of the pieces. In the original castlist it is interesting to note such names as Frederick Ashton, Robert Helpmann and Margot Fonteyn. The conductor was Constant Lambert. 1.

Prologue - The Players. The mood of the ballet is set by the sombre opening prelude. As the curtain rises we see two players sitting motionless on a raised dais with a chessboard between them. The Golden Player removes his visor disclosing the features of Love. The Black Player slowly strips his gauntlet disclosing the skeleton arm of Death. They turn the board three times to see who makes the first move; Love wins and raises a red pawn to his heart. The lights dim and the curtains slowly close. 2. Dance of the Red Pawns. The curtain rises again and the stage is now set up as a giant chessboard. The Red Pawns enter in this predominantly buoyant and cheerful movement which contrasts strongly with the ominous threats of the prologue. 3. Dance of the Four Knights. The two Red Knights enter to a wide-leaping angular theme with prominent syncopated rhythms followed by the two Black Knights where a rushing semiquaver figure with prominent triplets are the main feature. The Red Knights challenge the Black Knights to a display of daring and the tension is brilliantly built up until a boldly defiant climax is reached and the Black Queen enters. 4. Entry of the Black Queen.

Bliss shows a wide range of expression throughout the ballet, and contrasting with the hectic climax of the Knights' dance is the music of seductive beauty for the Black Queen played by the clarinet. The first Red Knight is hypnotised by her beauty and as she leaves the stage with her escort, she throws him a black rose. 5. The Red Knight's Mazurka. This is the only section of the ballet which bears the name of a formal dance as the Red Knight dances an exuberant solo. After a dramatic figure is played on the timpani three Red pawns enter carrying the banners of the Red Knights and then take up ceremonial positions to receive the two Red Bishops. 6. Ceremony of the Red Bishops. This follows without a break as a church bell anticipates the stately entry of the Bishops. It is a lyrical interlude well placed before the tension of the ballet begins to rise. 7. Entry of the Red Castles. The two Red Castles burst upon the stage with long strides. They represent the machinery of war and convey the impression that Force must be the final arbiter.

During the final bars the Red Knights, Bishops and Pawns prepare for the arrival of the Red King and Queen whose approach is signalled by a fanfare figure on the brass. 8. Entry of the Red King and Queen. Without a break in the music the weak and feeble King enters accompanied by the Queen. They are the inadequate centrepieces of the Red line-up and make their way slowly to the throne at the back of the stage to music of wistful character and rhythmic instability. All the pieces have now assembled and the game may begin. 9. The Attack. begins in an exultant mood with brass fanfares and the sound of castanets giving an indication of the bustle at this early stage of the contest. The stage is alive with the intricate manoeuvres of the chess battle until a forceful climax is reached (brass figure over tremulo strings) as the Black Queen puts the Red King into Check. Helplessly, the King looks for assistance and summons up the Red Bishops (return of their stately theme) but are waved angrily aside by the Black Queen.

The Red Queen implores the Black Queen to spare the King (plaintive oboe solo), but the Black Queen summons her Knights who carry the Red Queen away (return of the Knights' theme). The only piece who can now save the King is the Red Knight who (after a long pause held by timpani, cellos and basses) enters without a break on 10. The Duel. His heroic entrance is presented by the full orchestra. Red Knight and Black Queen circle round each other fighting, though the Knight is torn between his love for the Queen and a desire to destroy her. After a fierce duel the Knight's greater strength and mobility enables him to overcome her, she lies at his feet and at his mercy. But therein lies her strength and certainty of survival. She is apparently his helpless victim (return of the Black Queen's clarinet theme) and as the Knight hesitates to kill her, the sword slowly drops from his hands. He turns his back to the Queen and kneels before the Red King confessing that he could not kill her. As he kneels, the music becomes more violent. The Queen rises, follows him stealthily and plunges her knife into his back.

The two players of the Prologue, Love and Death reappear as all the pieces except the Black Queen gather round the dead Knight and raise him on to their shoulders, accompanied only by the Cor Anglais cadenza of mourning. Death then leads the funeral procession with Love bringing up the rear. The Red King and Black Queen are now left alone. 11. The Black Queen Dances. The Queen dances a sinister tango-like movement while the Red King, in terror for his life, looks on with fascination. The Queen despises the old King's helplessness and leaves the stage with a gesture of savage triumph. 12. Finale - Checkmate. The Red King is now alone. A scurrying cello and bass pizzicato supporting a static woodwind line portrays the King's nervousness and terror of what is to come. He moves forward slowly to escape but suddenly a few black pieces enter and force him back. He tries another way but more black pieces appear. He prays and makes one last piteous attempt to gain safety but the stage is now flooded with black pieces and the final, unstoppable onslaught begins.

This exciting climax to the ballet is full of bite and driving energy as the Red King now stands on the steps of his throne surrounded by his enemies, but as the moment of death approaches he has a vision of himself as a young and strong ruler (heroic brass fanfares and pounding drums). However the Black Queen enters and strikes the King with a spear. She lifts the crown from his head as the King falls dead into the circle of enemy lances and swords - CHECKMATE. © Michael Bell St Catherine's School, Bramley, UK Guildford Symphony Orchestra Royal Tunbridge Wells Symphony Orchestra 18 OCT 2008 Masterpieces Of The British Ballet - Checkmate & T ... - Video Artists International: 11731023 | Buy from ArkivMusic A Ballet in One Act with Prologue Music: Sir Arthur Bliss Choreography: Dame Ninette de Valois Checkmate, one of the pillars of contemporary British ballet, was Read more created in 1937 by choreographer Ninette de Valois (1898-2001) in response to an idea by composer Sir Arthur Bliss (1891-1975).

It remained in the repertoire for more than four decades and is still regularly revived. The ballet portrays a game of love and death, played according to rules of chess. It is won by the Black Queen who first captures the Red Queen, then defeats the Red Knight, and finally delivers the Red King to her warriors. Cast: The Black Queen: Margaret Barbieri The Red Knight: David Ashmole The Red King: David Bintley The Red Queen: Sherilyn Kennedy Second Red Knight: Michael Corder First Black Knight: Roland Price Second Black Knight: Nicholas Millington THE RAKEï¿½S PROGRESS A Ballet in Six Scenes Music and Scenario: Gavin Gordon Choreography: Dame Ninette de Valois The Rakeï¿½s Progress, which premiered in 1935, is one of the first classics of the native English school of ballet. The workï¿½s creator, Ninette de Valois, called the ballet her ï¿½Homage to Hogarth,ï¿½ a reference to the brilliant caricaturist whose paintings inspired her choreography. The music is by Gavin Gordon (1901-1970), who also wrote the scenario based on Hogarthï¿½s drawings.

They portray the swift fall of a young man who squanders his newly inherited fortune in brothels and gambling dens and is ultimately cast into Bedlam, Londonï¿½s notorious madhouse, where, wasted by disease and consumed by remorse, he ends his days. Cast: The Betrayed Girl: Nicola Katrak The Dancing Master: Kim Reeder Man with a Rope: David Bintley The Rakeï¿½s Friend/A Card Player: Michael Corder Betrayed Girlï¿½s Mother: Susan Crow The Dancer: Chenca Williams The Ballad Singer: Siobhan Stanley Music & Scenario by Gavin Gordon Dancers of the Sadlerï¿½s Wells Royal Ballet Sadlerï¿½s Wells Royal Ballet Orchestra / Barry Wordsworth, conductor Filmed in 1982 at Sadlerï¿½s Wells Theater, London Arthur Bliss: Checkmate - Complete Ballet Piano Solo Score - Piano Score - Sheet Music & Songbooks - Musicroom.com Sheet Music & Songbooks Arthur Bliss: Checkmate - Complete Ballet Piano Solo Score Qty: Print On Demand.

Usually ships in 5 working days Reserve product at Store Please enter your phone number Email Please enter a valid email address Note Please complete the form and click the submit button. This will notify our store that you wish to reserve this product. Our store will contact you to confirm the reservation. Please do not travel until the store has contacted you. Please double check your phone number, if it is incorrect we will be unable to contact you. We aim to get back to you within the hour, during shop hours (please see store details), to confirm your reservation. If you do not hear from us then please resend the request. Our Price: BLISS: Checkmate / Melee Fantasque Mêlée Fantasque • Checkmate: Ballet in One Scene with a Prologue Arthur Bliss, who was half-American, studied at Cambridge and the Royal College of Music. During the First World War he served with distinction, and in the post-war years his career was launched with a series of bold ensemble works such as Rout (1920). These gained him the reputation as an avant-garde experimentalist, as did his first major orchestral work A Colour Symphony (1921-2).

His musical language reached its maturity in the late 1920s as heard in the Oboe Quintet (1927) and Pastoral (1928). In the 1930s his memories of war inspired the profound choral symphony Morning Heroes (1930), whilst his Music for Strings (1935) demonstrated his mastery of musical structures. A characteristic of Bliss’s career was his partnerships with major artists of other genres, beginning, in 1934-5, with the score for Alexander Korda’s film Things to Come, based on H.G. Wells’s novel. Ballet was an important medium for him and he collaborated with Ninette de Valois on Checkmate (1937) and with Robert Helpmann on Miracle in the Gorbals (1944) and Adam Zero (1946). Other collaborators included J.B. Priestley, who wrote the libretto for the opera The Olympians (1948-9).

Among orchestral works are concertos for piano (1939), violin (1955) and cello (1970), as well as Meditations on a Theme by John Blow (1955) and Metamorphic Variations (1972). His formidable organisational talents were brought into play as director of music at the BBC during the Second World War, and from 1953 as Master of the Queen’s Music. He was knighted in 1950, and his autobiography As I Remember is a fascinating portrait of his life and times. In the years immediately before and after the First World War, Bliss’s enthusiasm for ballet was fostered by the brilliance of Dyagilev’s Ballets Russes on their visits to London. In particular Stravinsky’s great scores made a huge impression, and his influence on Bliss in the post-war years was significant, as is apparent in Mêlée Fantasque. Composed in 1921, it was Bliss’s first orchestral work to be performed in public when Henry Wood invited the composer to conduct it in his Promenade Concerts that year.

It was dedicated to the memory of the artist and theatre designer Claude Lovat Fraser, with whom Bliss had collaborated on productions of Shakespeare’s As You Like It and The Tempest. As he acknowledged in his programme note, Bliss considered Mêlée Fantasque his first ballet score; in it he aimed ‘to convey the rhythmic verve and Bakstlike colour of Lovat Fraser’s paintings’. These were ‘evoked in colourful episodes’, which Bliss contrasted with ‘elegiac passages which hint at the loss of this gifted friend’. Bliss had a great affection for this work and twice revised it. Checkmate was inspired by another of Bliss’s enthusiasms, chess, and as he explained in an article Death on Squares, written in 1938, the seeds for the ballet were sown at a dinner party when the conversation turned on subjects suitable for ballet. Games were mentioned, and ‘the idea of the pitiless queen in chess leapt from someone’s brain’. Nothing came of the concept at the time, but when Bliss was asked to write a work for the Vic-Wells Ballet he returned to the idea. Bliss wrote his own scenario, but was greatly helped by the theatre director W. Bridges Adams.

Checkmate was composed in 1936-7, with choreography by Ninette de Valois and designs by E. McKnight Kauffer. De Valois’ choreography combined classical steps, English traditional dance like Morris, as well as the sinister goose-steps of the Nazis which inevitably linked the ballet’s subject to the mood of the times when war clouds were gathering. The première on 15th June 1937 at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris was a glittering occasion, danced by a cast with now legendary names, including Frederick Ashton (Death), Robert Helpmann (Red King), Harold Turner (Red Knight), June Brae (Black Queen), Pamela May (Red Queen) and Margot Fonteyn leading the Black Pawns. Constant Lambert conducted the Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux. The British première took place on 5th October the same year at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London, and the combined talents brought about a masterpiece of English ballet which remains in the repertoire today. In the description of the action that follows the quotations are taken from both Bliss’s scenario and the stage directions.

The music of the Prologue is sombre, characterized by a brooding viola melody. As the curtain rises two players, one in gold armour, the other in black, sit motionless with a chess-board between them. The gold player removes his visor; he is Love: the black player strips off his gauntlet revealing the skeletal arm of Death. Choosing red and black respectively, they will fight for the lives of their subjects. The curtain slowly falls. At the beginning of the Dance of the Red Pawns, the stage is revealed as a chess-board on which the red pieces are assembling. The pawns, ‘light-hearted pages’ dance to a carefree woodwind theme, the music of novices which captures their youthful ardour. By the end of the dance they are drawn up in a stylistic chess formation. Two Red Knights, ‘fierce and powerful fighters’, bound onto the board to an accented string theme which is courageous and masculine as they start the Dance of the Four Knights. The two Black Knights follow on a ‘reconnoitring visit of chivalry’. To leaping rhythms, they salute and challenge each other to displays of prowess in which the first Red Knight surpasses them all.

As the dance finishes, the Black Knights fall on their knees at the approach of their Queen; the music is ominous, pregnant with danger; she is the ‘most dangerous piece on the board.’ The Entry of the Black Queen is epitomized by a sensuous clarinet melody offset by harp arpeggios, indicative of both her sexual allure and her deadly, coldhearted nature. She mesmerises the red pieces, especially the Red Knight and to a melting solo violin phrase flings him a rose; he is ensnared by her guile. He is exultant in having, supposedly, gained her love and in The Red Knight’s Mazurka responds with an athletic, elated solo in which his main theme is contrasted by a tender idea on woodwind. Towards the end the music turns sinister, as if presaging his doom. The Ceremony of the Red Bishops is evoked by a chiming bell and a chant-like fragment on the strings.

The pawns slowly dip the banners of their knights ‘to give the stage the appearance of a chapel’, but the blessing is interrupted by the Entry of the Red Castles who, with their brutish strides to clashing cymbals, suggest that ‘force is the final arbiter’. For this section Bliss re-used music from the sequence ‘The Building of the New World’ from the film Things to Come, as he felt that music portraying robotic machinery equally characterized the castles which he described as ‘inhuman and menacing monsters’. Brilliant ‘Pomp and Ceremony’ fanfares ring out as the Red King and Queen approach. The Entry of the Red King and Queen is marked by a regal horn solo with florid decoration as the old and feeble Red King, the weakest piece on the board, is borne in on a palanquin. On the last chord of this movement the pawns adopt a fighting position: ‘a complete set of red pieces in their chess positions is thus shown to the audience.’ With The Attack the ‘Game begins’ as brass and wind play a forceful theme and the stage becomes ‘alive with the intricate manoeuvres of the chess battle’.

The corps de ballet alternate with the Black Queen’s solos, the latter’s sallies accompanied by castanets. As the music slows, massive dissonant chords indicate that ‘a clear opening to the Red King is laid bare; the Black Queen’s menacing manoeuvre results in ‘the CHECK! of the King’ to two jabbing chords. He summons his Bishops to assist him; they intercede to their chant, but are imperiously dismissed by the ruthless Queen. The Red King’s consort implores mercy in a pleading oboe solo, but the two Black Knights carry her forcibly away. In The Duel between the Red Knight and the Black Queen, Bliss interweaves fragments of themes from previous sections. Their combat becomes a battle of wills until the Knight has the Queen at his mercy. Torn between duty and infatuation, the Red Knight hesitates to strike as the Prologue melody resounds through the orchestra, building to thudding chords as he drops his sword.

The Queen’s alluring theme is recalled; the Knight turns his back as he takes the rose from his breast to the music from the tender section of his Mazurka, As the music veers to the sinister, she stabs him to a distorted version of his theme. The giant figures of the two players appear; Death throws his black gauntlet on the corpse which, to doleful cor anglais and flute solos, is borne off in a funeral cortège. In a steely, cold-blooded tango The Black Queen Dances, taunting the terrified Red monarch. Her music twists and turns as, to a solo violin passage, she seemingly plays with her victim, finally leaving the stage ‘with a gesture of savage triumph’. At the beginning of the Finale the King looks for means of flight, the music alternating between slow, nervous passages and fast violent outbursts, as his means of escape are blocked. To relentless, ferocious, music the final onslaught begins with the black forces hounding their quarry. Surrounded by his enemies, the King is forced back to his throne, but recalling his youthful, heroic self he shows a brief moment of defiance appearing ‘majestic as a lion at bay’ to thundering percussion.

For an instant the black pieces waver. But behind him stands the Black Queen, spear aloft; she plunges it into his back as the music vividly portrays the death blows. ‘It is Checkmate’. Andrew Burn Classical Net Review - Bliss - Checkmate, Mêlée Fantaque Royal Scottish National Orchestra/David Lloyd-Jones Naxos 8.557641 DDD 65:03 Games lend themselves well to the ballet. Debussy's inspiration for Jeux was tennis, and Stravinsky's Jeux de cartes (Card Game) is a ballet "in three deals." Sir Arthur Bliss' 1937 ballet Checkmate is based on chess, of course. The 50-some minute ballet follows the course of a chess match, with all of the pieces represented on stage by dancers. (In the Prologue, it is established that the match is a contest between the allegorical figures of Love and Death.) The game ends when the treacherous Black Queen "kills" the ineffectual Red King.

Bliss wrote Checkmate for the Vic-Wells Ballet, and the original dancers included Frederick Ashton (Death), Robert Helpmann (Red King), June Brae (Black Queen), and, leading the Black Pawns, Margot Fonteyn. The choreographer was Dame Ninette de Valois, born in Ireland, christened Edris Stannus, and better known as "Madam." (At the time of Checkmate, she did not know how to play chess!) As befits the subject, there are few moments of repose in Bliss's score; something is always going on. The music is warlike rather than heroic, and there is none of the languid romance and spectacle one associates with ballets from the previous century. In 1937, it was impossible to ignore what was going on in Germany, and it is not unlikely that Bliss was imitating Nazi militarism, even goose-stepping – familiar to all through newsreels – in parts of the score. "Entry of the Red Castles" reuses music Bliss composed earlier for Things to Come, a film which also obliquely anticipates the war. Bliss's score is exciting and masculine.

Not even the Red Queen gets much of an opportunity to "unsex" herself. Usually, recordings of the score cut it down to a suite of five dances. Then, in 2001, Barry Wordsworth made the first recording of the complete ballet, conducting the Royal Ballet Sinfonia for the Academy Sound &Vision label (CDWLS255). This new Naxos disc is the second complete recording. It is preferable to AS&V's on several counts. First of all, AS&V's release is on two discs ("Tribute to Madam"), and includes the scores to three other ballets choreographed by de Valois. These are interesting enough, but there's no need to buy two CDs if all you want is Checkmate. Furthermore, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra outplays the Royal Ballet Sinfonia. David Lloyd-Jones chooses slower tempos than Wordsworth, giving the score a more brutal power. Last but not least, Naxos' engineering is fuller than AS&V's. Naxos' coupling is Mêlée Fantasque, written in 1921, and Bliss's first orchestral score.

(Inspired by the Ballets Russes, he referred to it as his first ballet score, but I don't think it was used as such.) Bliss wrote it in memory of a friend who had been an artist and theater designer. The composer intended "to convey the rhythmic verve and Bakst-like colour of Lovat Fraser's paintings." A few relatively reflective passages remind us that this is a memorial work, but "rhythmic verve" and "Bakst-like colour" dominate the Mêlée Fantasque. As in Checkmate, the performance and the engineering are excellent!

Question: Who composed the music for the 1937 ballet "Checkmate"?
Answer: (Arthur) BLISS